1900s Pit Village

See what’s cooking in the pit cottages, practise your handwriting in the school and visit the chapel.

Experience life in The 1900s Pit Village, showing a colliery community at the time of peak coal production in the North East.

Francis Street

The Francis Street cottages came to Beamish from Hetton-le-Hole, on Wearside, and were originally built in the early 1860s by Hetton Coal Company. Six of the original row of 27 homes were moved to the museum in 1976 and rebuilt in our 1900s Pit Village.

Explore this terrace of miners’ cottages – No.2 is the Methodist family’s home, in No.3 live a family of Irish descent, No.4 is home to a widow who lost her husband in a pit accident, and the Colliery Pay Office is at the end.

Look out for the communal bread oven in the back lane – where there may be some delicious home-made bread baking.

Davy’s Fried Fish Shop

Try our delicious fish and chips, cooked the traditional way in coal-fired ranges using beef dripping. Not to be missed!

School

Our school building came from East Stanley, a couple of miles from the museum, and originally opened in 1892.

Practise the 3Rs in the schoolroom (watch out for the stern teacher) before trying your hand at playground games. Can you master the booler?

Hetton Silver Band Hall

Discover the region’s proud colliery band heritage in this century-old band hall, that was rebuilt at Beamish after being donated by former band members.

Pit Pony Stables

Meet our pit ponies and discover their work down the region’s mines – the Durham coalfield had 22,000 ponies in 1913.

Chapel

Pit Hill Chapel – which once stood in nearby Beamish village – is a typical early-1900s Wesleyan Methodist chapel, hosting choirs, services and community events.

Sinkers’ Bait Cabin

Tuck into snacks from the Sinkers’ Bait Cabin – the sinkers were the men who sank new mine shafts and their huts acted as canteens and places to dry out.

Ever wondered what the working life of a pit pony was like? If so, our Pit Pony Experience is just what you’re looking for. This is a unique opportunity to discover more about the role a pit pony played in colliery life.